Advancement in the integrated circuit technology has led to vast improvements in the speeds of integrated circuits. As a result, the ability to get signals off of an integrated circuit chip and on to a circuit board with as much speed as possible has become increasingly important. Increasing signal transmission speed of the integrated circuit has resulted in faster rise and fall times of the output voltages. Similarly, the fast rise and fall times of the output voltages have resulted in abrupt transitions of output current.
While faster speeds are very desirable, the abrupt transition of output currents create serious problems in the integrated circuit chip. The package holding the integrated circuit includes metallic leads that allow interconnection of the integrated circuit to devices on the circuit board. Each lead has a small inductance associated with it. The leads are connected to the integrated circuits using bonding wire which also has an associated inductance. Because of this inductance, the abrupt transition of output current creates output voltage spikes. These voltage spikes affect the voltages of the devices, cause output ringing, ground bounce, false signals and other switching noise.
To some extent, the problem may be alleviated by reducing the inductance present at the leads of the integrated circuit chip. For example, multiple power supply and ground leads may be provided in the integrated circuit chip. However, the reduction in inductance is often insufficient to eliminate voltage spikes at the output of many devices and may necessitate using a large package to carry the same integrated circuit.